Fifty years ago this week, a pill was approved for use. And this pill is so widely used (80 percent of women of childbearing age have used it) and lauded, that among every other pharmaceutical invention, it alone has been deemed “The Pill.” Unlike most other pills which seek to stop something obviously bad, this pill stops something which anyone holding an infant must admit is the essence of good.
Planned Parenthood says on this anniversary, “Since the Pill was approved by the FDA, it has radically changed women’s access to education, to employment and to having the size of family that they want. It completely changed women’s ability to control their own destiny.”
You will not find me disagreeing that this pill has caused radical changes for women although my assessment is much less positive that
theirs. Their assessment is that the pill has taken women from the poverty of pregnancy to the prosperity of public power. Yes, culture has taught women that their potency is best felt in the board room than the nursery. I think this is simple laughable. Women have held sway over the entire culture since the very beginning not by choosing the new slogan for some product but by raising the next generation of humanity. Yes voices like Planned Parenthood have not empowered women, but robbed them of their true power. While inviting women to their rallies, they have come like a thief in the night and cleared out their homes.
Martin Luther said “Here you have the ornament that distinguishes woman, namely, that she is the fount of all living human beings.” And with him I stand. What power could a women gain in the rest of the world that would be of more effect than bringing forth human beings and raising them with skill and wisdom. If any women desires power, this is where she will find it.
Planned parenthood say that the ‘The Pill” has given women the ability to control their own destiny. And with this I could not agree more. The Pill has allowed many women to craft themselves and their own desires into beautiful idols which they worship daily.
Here are some of the other “benefits” the pill has brough to women:
- Women are able to engage in all sort of sexuality outside of marriage without any real fear of any public recognition of their ways. And we all know that women sleeping with multiple men and then having their hearts ripped out by those same men has been so essential to their well-being.
- Women have been roped into all sorts of sexual trade and exploitation. Once sexuality, marriage and pregnancy were removed from one another in the mind, it gave men more excuse to act like pigs and enslave women to fulfill their fantasies. If sexuality is not about procreation, it is solely about pleasure, and men will stop at nothing to seek pleasure.
- Many women are growing old without any real family around them.  They have no husbands or children due to chasing the dream the feminist movement has placed into their heads. No instead of the dream, they have nothing but the nightmare of constant loneliness.
- Unwanted side effects, such as nausea, weight gain or weight loss, and painful or missed periods. Recent studies suggest sexual desire is also effected. Less common symptoms can include severe headache, severe chest pain, coughing up blood, partial or complete loss of vision, and depression, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
- Women are expected by peers and economists to work outside of the home, regardless of their desire to do so.
“Benefits” brought to the church:
- Empty pews.
- Destruction of some of the most effective groups in the church, women’s groups.
- Any shame associated with pre-martial sex has been lost.
I couldn’t agree with you more! Although I am not opposed to family spacing, I am very opposed to what “birth control” has meant for women, church and society. Your point about the Pill enabling men to more readily “use” women is so true. I have often wondered why more women do not speak to this point. I guess it is not politically correct.
I don’t think any of us want our wives or daughters to become “baby machines,” but as the parents of five (the last of which was very much a surprise), my frau and I are pleased we didn’t stop at the standard “two.” We have never regretted our children nor have we ever really gone “without” because of them. They are and always will be a blessing!
For the record, we went through the whole gamut of pills/devices before finally settling on Natural Family Planning about a dozen years into our marriage. To this day, we are “true believers.” We do not agree with those who think that this is just a way to cheat providence. BTW, did you know that when chimp males are given a choice between females who are on or off the Pill, they will consistently choose those off? One has to wonder what this might mean for marital sexual satisfaction as well as male marital fidelity.
As I said to you in a conversation a couple days ago, Pastor Phil, I think Pope Paul VI made a mistake when he came out against all forms of artificial family planning. Although for him it was a matter of conscience, I think he would have been wiser to speak of family spacing and the need to be “open” to children. His prohibition seemed to make it an “either-or” choice, and most Roman Catholics chose “or.” And this was the last best hope for the rest of us who hold to the traditional view.
When we were married our LCMS pastor told us it wasn’t the method that mattered, but the motive. I think there was wisdom in his counsel. Sometimes I think that you and Jamie, Diane and I and a handful of others are the only Lutherans left who hold the traditional view — although I do know there are others.
Keep writing on this issue. It is important whatever the world may think!
Phil,
Thanks for this great, insightful article. Toni and I, early in our marriage, decided to use the pill. In fact, we were told by godly men and women that it was perfectly fine, but something we had to feel comfortable about ourselves before we started to use it. We did a lot of research and felt that it was an okay decision. But the more we read, studied and prayed we felt that it was not a good choice anymore. In fact, we know that the pill is supposed to stop pregnancy from happening but what they have also found is that it can also act like an abortificant (spelling?).
It seems like such a great, convenient thing when you are first starting out…but the more you read about it…the more troublesome it becomes.
Thanks for some great reminders in your post.